Solar satellites detected the strongest solar flares in over three years. Consequently, radio signals were shut out when the flare struck in the late hours of November 23.

The solar outburst was measured as an M4.4 flare. Tiny C-class flares, medium-sized M flares, and large X-class flares are known as solar flares. There are also subcategories from 1 to 9 in any class, so an M9 flare is stronger than an M4.

Flares send out a huge burst of electromagnetic radiation, which, in the case of powerful X-class flares, may trigger radio blackouts, often throughout the entire world. M-class flares like Sunday's typically produce only minimal Earth disturbances.

Solar flares may be dangerous to radio waves, according to Forbes, since ionisation happens as they enter the atmosphere, which saps energy from radio waves. The blast flung a plum of plasma more than 350,000 km around the Sun. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory documented the splashdown.

The Sun Emits First X-Class Flare For Four Years
(Photo : NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory via Getty Images)
IN SPACE - FEBRUARY 15: In a screen grab taken from a handout timelapse sequence provided by NASA / SDO, a solar spot in the centre of the Sun is captured from which the first X-class flare was emitted in four years on February 14, 2011. The images taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft reveal the source of the strongest flare to have been released in four years by the Sun, leading to warnings that a resulting geo-magnetic storm may cause disruption to communications and electrical supplies once it reaches the earths magnetic field.

Did It Directly Affect Earth?

The spectacular solar flare circulated on social media, with the Sun apparently bubbling before bursting into existence. A flare blast of ultraviolet radiation reached Earth and ionized the surface of our atmosphere momentarily.

Astronomy site Space Weather said Sunspot AR2785 erupted during the late hours of November 23 (2335 UT), producing a C4-class solar flare. his prompted a shutdown in shortwave radio across the South Pacific, including eastern Australia and New Zealand as a whole.

Astronomer Dr. Tony Phillips told Spaceweather.com that HAM radio operators and mariners might just have encountered unusual transmission results at frequencies below 20 MHz and with specific signals below 10 MHz totally extinguished.

 

More Sun-Flares Sooner Than We Thought

The flare of Sunday is only part of the beginning of a new solar cycle (to be accurate, Solar Cycle 25), which formally started in December 2019, but that milestone was not confirmed until mid-September. This implies that before about mid-2025, we should predict a duration of rising activity and explosive sunspots.

Major solar storms have culminated in severe power outages on Earth before in Quebec, 1989. The so-called 'Carrington Case' of 1859, which destroyed electrical devices on the field (including most telegraph systems), is considered the most effective direct hit in modern history.

Many have warned that our digital community and satellite-based communications dependence is especially susceptible to a strong solar storm that might arise at just about any moment.

And as the solar cycle progresses to a new limit in the coming years, the chance of such an occurrence grows.

There might be the next major flare right around the corner.

"The hidden sunspot that produced this major event will rotate onto the Earthside of the sun during the next day or two," according to Phillips. "Then its ability to spark geomagnetic storms will be greatly increased."

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